In recent years, many health conscious foods and drinks are developed, and are even commercially available. In order to obtain a genuine product with which a health function can be acknowledged, obviously, a compounded amount needs to be greater than an effective amount. As in the old saying “Bitters do good to the stomach,” a so-called functional component which provides a beneficial effect with the human body often has a bitter taste. If that is the case, food and drink containing a functional component in an amount equal to or more than the effective amount will have decreased palatability, resulting in a less attractive product.
A hop, from which bitter taste components in beer originate, is also used as a folk medicine for many years, and various health functions such as a calming effect and a stomachic property are known. When an extract obtained from the hop is included in food and drink in an amount equal to or more than a certain amount, a characteristic intense bitter taste and harsh taste arise, and may spoil palatability.
Many attempts have been reported in order to remove or suppress such a bitter taste. Substances used as a bitter taste-reducing material include phosphatidic acid (Product name “Benecort BMI” Kao Corp.), L-ornithine (Food Science Journal, Vol. 317, p 54, 2004) and the like. However, none of them necessarily shows a strong effect when used alone, and in particular, the bitter taste of the hop extract was difficult to be suppressed. Further, in a masking technology (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2008-99682) in which a sweetening agent such as sucralose and thaumatin is added, a bitter taste was masked by sweetness to some extent, but the use thereof is limited due to its strong sweetness.
In the case of pharmaceutical products, sugar coating is mainly used for a tablet in general. In addition, the film coating technology, microencapsulation and the like are used, but a bitter taste has been difficult to be completely masked. Further, in the case of liquid formulations, such technologies can not be used as in the case of drinks. Therefore, suppression of a bitter taste remains a significant problem in the field of food and drink and pharmaceutical products.